DRAMA CLASS - YMCA CURRICULUM
In class, we will explore the body, voice, and imagination. Each class will begin with simple exercises in which we experiment with movement and different ways of thinking about our bodies. For instance, when asked to pretend to be a giraffe, the children must consider how a giraffe's neck differs from their own, and then incorporate that difference into their own bodies. In these exercises, each child is encouraged to express their vision of how they see themselves (as a porcupine, rain, a monster. . etc.) in their own unique way. The children become more aware of their bodies and begin to see them not just as something to get around in, but as vehicles of expression as well.The children will learn and experience mask work. The children will develop each character by focusing on the expression of their face and rendering any feeling that the character is experiencing with as much precision as possible. They will also reveal the mask of each particular emotion through bodies. The children will gain a greater understanding of their own possible range of movement and learn to move more lyrically. In addition, the children will also design and build their own masks out of plaster and paper. They will discover how different designs can inform how they feel in the inside and explore how that makes them move. Some of the children's own masks will be incorporated into their final performance.
For a text, we will be using a selection of classic fairytales. Knowing the basic plot as well as who the characters are and how they function in the story before they start to act, allows the children to build a character with more depth, and also take more of an initiative during the story- such as speaking as the character without being fed a line or suggesting a course of action. Throughout the course of the class, the children will build a repertoire of characters, developing bodies for humans as well as animals. The children will always get to choose which character they would like build, however, by the classes end, most will end up experiencing the majority of characters in each of the texts. The class will culminate with a performance of one chosen fairytale.
